PROJ00304

• Contract/PO #: FS0027X
• Contractor Name: Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company
• Contract Type: Grant
• Water District: 0
• County: Weld
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Chapter 11- Description of Sponsoring Entity

The Greeley and Loveland 1rrigation Company, as it is known today, was officially established
in 1903. However, the company actually obtained its roots from the original British formulation of The
Loveland and Greeley Irrigation and Land Company in 1881, intending to expand the Barnes and
Chubbock Ditches. It was this establishment which was responsible for purchasing the land in 1882 to
build Lake Loveland. The second version of the company was organized in 1891 by a new set of British
investors, now calling themselves The New Loveland and Greeley Irrigation Company. This entity was
responsible for the actual construction of Lake Loveland in 1894, which at its time was seen as one of
the more impressive engineering feats in the turn of the century. In 1900, the British investors sold the
company and reservoir system to a group of local farmers who were more adept at irrigating the arid
region than were the British.

Seven Lakes Reservoir Company was also formed in 1900 to acquire storage reservoirs l!TId
reservoir sites. Seven Lakes Reservoir Company does not have a delivery system and its water has
always been delivered through the canal system ofthe Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company.

The Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company, along with the Seven Lakes Reservoir Company,
owns and operates an extensive system of reservoirs and canals for the irrigation of approximately
18,000 acres of agricultural lands in Larimer and Weld counties as shown in Figure III-I. There are a
total of 225 shareholders in the two companies. The two companies have decreed direct flow and
storage rights on the Big Thompson River for totals of 1455 cfs (999 cfs from Big Barnes Ditch and 456
cfs from Greeley and Loveland Canal), the earliest dating frorn 1865, and 66,700 acre-feet respectively.

Two headgates known as the Big Barnes Ditch and the Greeley and Loveland Canal with their
points of diversion on the Big Thompson River are maintained by the Company. The Greeley and
Loveland Company owns and controls Lake Loveland, Boyd Lake, and the Equalizer and Houts Lake
Reservoirs. The Seven Lakes Reservoir Company owns and controls five reservoirs: Horseshoe Lake,
Westerdoll Lake, Heinricy Lake, and Upper and Lower Hoffman Lakes. The interchange facilities of
the system to exchange water between the two companies has been developed over the years to afford
greater use of the water.

Horseshoe Dam No.2 Outlet Works Study

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BOYLE